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The Dark Knight Returns (Phase 8
plot After the death of his son Jason Todd, Bruce Way retires from Batman. Ten years later after the events of Kingdom Come, Gotham is overrun with a new gang called the Mutants. Old man Bruce maintains a friendship with 70 year old retiring James Gordon. Joker has been dormant in Arkham since Batman disappeared. Arkham inmate Harvey Dent goes under plastic surgery to restore his face. His docter, Bartholomew Wolper, declares him sane and releases him. He soon goes into hiding. Bruce watches the news where he discovers parents all over the city are being murdered. That night Bruce has a nightmare. He remembers chasing a rabbit before falling into a hole where he cries out but is swarmed by bats. The next day, thirteen year old Carrie Kelly leaves her dojo for the day and hangs out with her friend Michelle. They are both knocked unconscious and taken to an abadoned arcade for ransom. That night, Batman appears out of nowhere. He brutally beats the goon from the shadows, scaring them. He saves Carrie who manages to follow Batman back to his cave. After he leaves. she discovers a memorial for Damian Wayne and Jason Todd. She takes Jason's old costume and puts it on. He combats serious crimes, rescuing 13-year-old Carrie Kelley, but now struggles with the physical limitations of age. Public reaction to his return is divided; Dent's psychologist, Bartholomew Wolper, blames Batman for creating his own villains. Dent resurfaces, threatening to blow up a building unless he is paid a ransom. Batman defeats Dent's henchmen, learning that the bombs will explode even if the ransom is paid; he realizes that Dent intends to kill himself. Batman disables one bomb, and the other detonates harmlessly. He defeats Dent, who reveals that although his face was repaired he still thinks of himself as Two-Face. Kelley dresses as Robin and looks for Batman, who attacks a gathering of the Mutants with a tank-like Batmobile (incapacitating most of them). The Mutant leader challenges Batman to a duel; he accepts, to prove to himself that he can win. The Mutant leader (who is in his prime) nearly kills Batman, but Kelley distracts him long enough for Batman to subdue him. The leader and many gang members are arrested. Injured, Batman returns to the Batcave with Kelley; he allows her to become his protégée (despite protest from his butler, Alfred Pennyworth). Batman has Carrie disguise herself as a Mutant, and she lures the gang to a sewer outlet at the West River. At the Gotham City Police Department, the Mutant leader murders the mayor during negotiations. Commissioner Gordon deliberately releases the leader, providing an escape from the building, which leads to the sewer outlet. Before the amassed Mutants, Batman fights the leader in a mud pit; the mud slows the leader, removing his physical advantage, and Batman overpowers him. Seeing their leader's defeat, the Mutants divide into smaller gangs; one becomes the "Sons of Batman", a violent vigilante group. Batman's victory becomes public and the city's inhabitants are inspired to stand up against crime. Gordon retires after meeting his anti-Batman successor, Ellen Yindel. In Arkham, televised reports about Batman bring the Joker out of his catatonic state.